Mar 16, 2025
I went and saw "Shear Madness" at the Kennedy Center last night.
My only thing to bemoan was that they could have made an Ides of March joke. Either way, someone got stabbed for being a crazy tyrant in that performance.
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I went and saw "Shear Madness" at the Kennedy Center last night.
My only thing to bemoan was that they could have made an Ides of March joke. Either way, someone got stabbed for being a crazy tyrant in that performance.
Sheep strike again
The Charles Playhouse, Boston. Built in the 1830s as a Unitarian Church, with Asher Benjamin architect. By the 1920s was a Jazz Club. Blue Man Group has been continuously performing here for something like 25 years. Shear Madness has been performing here as well, for 40 years straight. It is the longest running theatrical show in the country.
Shear Madness highlights
I just saw an improv show called Shear Madness and guys. This is one of the funniest things I have ever seen. I’m going to type out some of my favorite moments from the show while it’s still fresh in my mind.
First, let me introduce the characters.
Tony owns a hair salon, and Barbra works for the hair salon. They are disaster gay and bi respectively and share one collective brain cell.
Eddie is my least favorite character, he’s a businessman who’s just overall kind of an eh person.
Mrs. Shubert is an old rich lady with a butler etc.
Nick and Mikey are cops. Mikey also has one brain cell and him and Nick have some good buddy moments.
Ok, now onto the highlights.
Before the show formally started, the characters walked out one by one. Tony spent the whole time doing Mikey’s hair (and probably flirting with him) and dancing to songs like the YMCA with Barbara.
Right after Mikey ran from the room looking slightly afraid, Tony asked who was going next, and Nick and Eddie both pointed at each other and went, “He is.”
Nick first came in as a customer (as did Mikey, I forgot to mention that before.) and he was wearing a Walgreens shirt, so Tony went, “Oh, do you work at the Walgreens?” And I found that funny, I don’t know why.
Tony ‘shaved’ Nick’s face, and by that I mean he put literally ALL OF THE SHAVING CREAM ONTO HIS HAND AND SLAPPED IT ONTO NICKS FACE.
When Mrs. Schubert first came in she told them she needed her hair done and proceeded to show them and Tony said, “Oh my god you look like Donald Trump.”
“I auditioned for Naked and Afraid. Naked, of course. And you know what they said? We’re afraid.”
The first act just got more and more chaotic until it was revealed that the lady upstairs (Isabel) had been murdered and the cops burst in and there was a complete blackout.
Nick messed up Mrs. Schubert’s name many times. The one I remember was ‘Mrs. Shoebox.’
They were all questioned individually. First Tony, then Eddie, then Barbara, the Mrs. Schubert.
“What do you want?!?” “I want you!” (Leans against the wall) “Oh go ahead.” -Tony, being questioned.
“Do you think [Barbara and Isabel] were in some sort of... Lebanese relationship???” -Nick
Everyone who was not being questioned was in the supply closet, so when Nick got fed up with questioning Tony he yelled, “GET BACK IN THE CLOSET!” And they both just stood there pointing at each other and nodding and Nick broke character and started laughing.
Nick: “Did you hear any of their conversations in there?” Mikey: “No! Mrs. Schubert keeps talking in my ear! ‘Yakity yakity yakity.’” (Mikey opens the closet door) Mrs. Schubert: “Yakity takity yakity...”
Tony had two cats named Bill and Hilary.
“I went upstairs and the room was filled with smoke! I couldn’t see Hilary so I went, Hilary! Run! And she said, never again.”
“Who is Pookie Schubert?” “That’s the name I use when I Twitter!” “...I think what you do is tweet.” “And I think what you do is terrific!
Eddie said that he drove a red buggy or something and Mikey punches Nick in the arm and yelled PUNCHBUGGY NO PUNCH BACK and ran out of the room.
Nick: “Are you going to Bermuda with him?” Mrs. Schubert: “GOD no! I wouldn’t go anywhere with someone who drives a red buggy.”
Eddie insulted Mrs. Schubert by calling her an antique and she held up her purse like a baseball bat and charged at him.
Tony: “She’s gone out with half the guys in DC!” Barbara: “And he’s gone out with the other half!”
Nick: (reaches an important point in the argument) “Mikey, you got all that down?” Mikey: “Yeah he’s gone out with half the guys in DC.”
Nick and Mikey did a handshake at one point.
Mikey was just really a really awesome and adorable dumbass overall.
There were at least two “That’s what she said” jokes.
The audience participated in part of the investigation and when Nick revealed us to the four suspects they all made these exaggerated faces of disgust.
Barbara couldn’t remember what happened up to the murder for a while, and when she did she had some STELLAR acting.
A LOT of people in the audience thought Mikey did it and Nick had to kind of descretely tell them that he wasn’t an option.
Tony was voted as the guilty one (I voted for Eddie) and he did an AMAZING JOB snapping and trying to stab Barbara with the scissors, revealing himself as the murderer.
Nick: “MIKEY! Watch the door.” (Mikey stares at the door) Nick: “From the outside.”
In the sort of epilogue Nick said something like, “You guys voted for Tony this time, but tomorrow night it could be Barbara! (Cue Barbara doing a weird pose with the scissors/murder weapon) or Eddie! (Cue Eddie doing a weird pose with the scissors/murder weapon) or even Mrs. Schubert! (Cue Mrs. Schubert doing the weirdest of the poses with the scissors/murder weapon.
That’s all I remember right now but if anything else comes to mind I’ll reblog this with that.
Shear Madness is an absolute MASTERPIECE y’all.
Voted “Favorite Actor in a Comedy!”
Many, many, many thanks to the folks onstage and off at Meadow Brook Theatre for making this award possible! We had such a fun time bringing Shear Madness to Michigan, and I’m very lucky to have been given the opportunity to play a role I never thought I’d get to do in the first place!
Day 3- Capital hill, Smithsonian, and kennedy theater
Any asoue fans live near the dc area, or people in the dc area in general should really check out the play Shear Madness. I think would really apeal to people who like asoue, and not just because the actor playing the sergeant at my showing looked like Jacques from far away. It's a play about solving a murder (witch might have been to obtain a fortune), but the dialogue makes it so funny. Think Asoue if they were completely unrestrained by copyright reference wise and due to it being sorta improved every showing, completely topical (they referenced the tide pod challenge). Also half way through they open it up to the audience to help solve the crime, you can ask questions and point out errors in testimony. It's been the highlight of my trip so far and lived up to all expectations.